Aaron Baer sent me an invitation to speak at the Authentic Legal Professionals Summit. He said, and I quote, “I’m going to gamble and say that you’re able to speak about one of those (autism, ADHD, Tourettes, or other neurodivergences.)”
All of this was a bit of an eye-opener to me, because at 69 ¾ years old, I was unaware that I was neurodivergent, but it seemed to be a pretty safe bet for Aaron.
There is an old story about a young man who, after finally meeting the love of his life following years searching the globe for his one true soulmate, took his girlfriend’s hands in his own one starlit summer evening, stared deeply into her beautiful eyes, and whispered to her in a husky, excited voice: “since I met you, I can’t eat. I can’t drink. I can’t sleep… I’m completely broke.”
Let me tell you about two different law firms.
Big Law Group One is a well-respected Canadian firm with many hundreds of lawyers, some of whom appear to be happier than others. Some of their dearly departed professionals have told me distressing stories about their lives at that firm, and the effect that the work demands had on their mental health. They also shared with me their feeling that the firm let them down when they required accommodation to recover from their mental health problems. They painted a picture of a firm which did not care much about its people, especially after those people became unable or unwilling to continue to sacrifice their health on the altar of billable hours.
I was the managing partner of a law firm for a while. At that time I saw myself as being something like Cassandra, who the Gods punished by giving her the ability to foresee the future while dooming her to never be believed. I used to try my best to convince my partners to see things my way. After all, I knew how things were going to turn out if they did not listen to me. Not only did some of them not listen, but they actively tried to subvert the things that I was doing for their benefit.
“Work hard, earn a great living, get whatever you want out of life, have all the stuff you want. But there should be a ceiling on it-enough is enough!”
~ Sandy Duncan
I used to think that I was a fairly sophisticated guy. I got me an education. I was a partner in a law firm. I advised some successful clients. But since I retired, moved to the country, and bought a pick-up truck, I have been rethinking some things and I realize that perhaps I am, and have always been, more of an Okie from Muskogee, or in Canadian terms, a hick from Temiskaming. And I am happy to be one.
I don’t consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.
~ Leonard Cohen
I have a friend who is a Dermatologist. I will call him Howard. Howard knows a great deal about skin cancer, so he worries about contracting skin cancer. He wears long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and a hat all summer, and covers any exposed areas with sunblock. Some say that Howard is obsessive about that.
I spoke to two law firm partners this week, both of whom told me that their hourly expectation was 2,400 hours per year, consisting of 2,000 billable hours and 400 non-billable hours (administration, firm events, continuing education, business promotion, and mentoring).
I set about to do some math and determine how many hours these people have to spend on their mental and physical health and personal relationships. The law firms are all advertising their mental health initiatives, so I knew that it would be substantial!
One of the values that drove me for a good long time was the importance of working hard and generating many billable hours.
I have concluded that there are three reasons that many lawyers work long hours. Some do it to serve their clients well. Others do it because they are workaholics. And finally, there are those who work all of the time because they are ambitious and they want to earn a lot of money. What all of these lawyers have in common is that they all believe that working hard will make them happy. It does not seem to work for many of them.
Tali Green recently (sarcastically)asked the following question on LinkedIn: “Are lazy and sub-par juniors contributing to the mental health crisis in the legal profession?”
By the time that I figured out that I could no longer cope with the pressures of the legal profession and that something had to give, I had been practicing business law for thirty-three years. What can I say… I am a slow learner. It took me almost another seven years to get out. I escaped with my health intact, but just barely.